I know ants aren't supposed to actually eat plants, and whenever I see them, I look for aphids, because they're only supposed to be there for the aphids, right?

Well, just last week I had ants all over my jalapenos, and when I looked closely, it was VERY apparent that they were eating the peppers themselves. There was all kinds of dusty, chewed up bits of pepper everywhere, kind of like the "frass" that squash borers leave when they eat your squash plants. There was green frass on the green peppers and red frass on the red peppers while the ants were chewing large holes and swarming INSIDE the jalapenos.

I looked for aphids, slugs, anything...there were only ants. In the end I decided to just harvest the remaining unmolested peppers and call it a season since the weather was getting cold anyway.